WSU alumni patrols campus for 21 years and counting
Growing up, Jeanette Hurt wanted nothing to do with law enforcement. Today, she is the only female police officer at WSU Vancouver.
“My mom still has this career paper from high school that asked what I wanted to do with my future and I said, ‘anything but a police officer,’” Hurt said. “But when I really think about it, it is what I wanted to do all along; to help people.”
Hurt has worked as a WSU Vancouver Police officer for 21 years. She graduated from WSU Vancouver in 1996 with a degree in public administration.
Jeanette Hurt, the only female police officer at WSU Vancouver. (Sydnie Kobza/The VanCougar)
Officer Hurt works a 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. swing shift on the WSU Vancouver campus, Monday through Friday. Married with two children, Hurt explained, “Even though I am a senior officer, I chose to work this shift so that I have more time to spend with my family.”
Hurt said she discovered her love for helping people when she worked for the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) when she was 19. “YWCA is a safe haven for women in domestic violence or sexual assault situations,” she said. “The [YWCA] I worked at was the only one in the area that accepted moms with 14 year old or older boys, which was a really big deal for the time.”
Officer Hurt attended Clark College, where she ran for student government and worked with the Multicultural Affairs club. “Karen Brown, my supervisor at Multicultural Affairs, was an inspirational person to me. No students were left hungry and you knew you were loved by her,” Hurt said.
Some of Hurt’s duties as a swing shift officer include escorting students to their car, vehicle jumpstarts or unlocks and securing the campus. According to Dave Stephenson, the director of Public Safety and Police services at WSU Vancouver, other duties include watching the campus security cameras (when not on active patrol).
Hurt recounts a time she was on campus patrolling in the evening, and found nearly eight male students swimming in the pond next to the Bookie. “At that point you just have to laugh and not take it so seriously. I told them to go home and that was that,” Hurt explained.
-Jeannette Hurt
“At that point you just have to laugh and not take it so seriously. I told them to go home and that was that.”
Hurt is the only female officer on the WSU Vancouver campus, and given that March is Women’s History Month, she said “For me, it’s the appreciation of the women before me, women in law enforcement.”
Officer Hurt will walk you to your car, jump-start a dead car battery or even help get you inside your locked car. The only thing she asks from you is, “Please don’t swim in the pond.”
I’m going to travel the whole world, learn everything about it, and then write about it.